059-061 » the place where you stop the story

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central/Southern Mathias
WHEN: Day 059-061
WHAT: Time returns to "normal" and Mathias grants a reprieve.
WARNINGS: (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here! The next log will be posted the weekend of May 15th May 22nd.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Nathan Johnson "Foul Play"

DAY 059-061
A BRIEF REPRIEVE
“There is no real ending. It’s just
the place where you stop the story.”
— Frank Herbert
Residents awake to a peaceful morning with the sun shining and earth remaining still. There is no unsettling shaking to rouse them at dawn, and time has continued moving onward as they slept. Whatever state they were in the night before, they remain that way now, for good or for bad.

On the surface, there seems to be little lasting effect on the tiny town from that strange series of days, save for the memories of any traumatic experiences residents may have faced — but there are always consequences within Mathias. The perpetrators of acts against the town are tormented by nightmares of those acts being used against them, and those who did not raise a hand to stop those acts of destruction may yet face consequences of their own. For now, however, the unwilling townspeople should do their best to rest and recover from the disturbing ordeals of late, for this reprieve from the madness shall surely be shortlived.




THE NEW ARRIVALS
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake up on the beach near The Grey Gull. It's a bit chilly out with their wet clothes, but surely there's something to help warm them inside the restaurant. They may even find some alcohol within — and not just the cowboys' homemade moonshine.

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CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE HISTORY MUSEUM has not fared well with the return of "normal" time. The once esteemed wooden building is now a charred ruin, the recent fire leaving behind little of the contents within for study. The structure is unstable and it is not wise to venture into the ruins for long.

— THE WEATHER conditions remain fairly typical for early fall: warm days and cool nights. It feels almost like spring arriving except that there fewer red and orange leaves on the ground and more of them oddly returning to the trees and slowly fading to green. It's like watching one of those nature documentaries that have a timelapse of the seasons, only it's going in reverse.

— THE FOG has retreated from some areas!

— Residents may now wander the southern stretch of the forest surrounding Mathias Township — it is possible to leave the paths but potentially unwise to do so.
— The fog has also retreated farther into the western section of town, now stretching across town between Stine Road and Shelley Drive. This has revealed the Chasm in the earth that stretches from one side of town to the other between Stine and Hill Lane.
— Access to the northern section of the forest is still blocked beginning a few dozen yards past the treeline; this section of fog will urge residents to stay huddled within the town proper by inducing a physical reaction of panic and fear.

— DEATHS & DISAPPEARANCES continue! Max Guevara has vanished into the fog. Claire Novak's body can be spotted on Day 059 facedown at the bottom of the Chasm between Hill and Stine, near Phillips Drive; by the morning of Day 060, her body will be gone. (Attempts may be made to reach her body but will likely not end well for those involved. Such attempts should be reported under Exploration.)

— ALCOHOL is still in Mathias! Just barely. (Supply is running very low after recent town events.) A small stock of beer and cheap wine may be found at the General Store, and some homes may have a small store of alcohol in the fridge or pantry. The Grey Gull was also restocked with its lower-end offerings of a variety of alcohol types. (Alcohol does not replenish as food does.)

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OOC NOTES

— PROJECT HELP Your mod needs help with some projects!

— FUTURE PLANNING If you haven't, please answer the questions here for future log planning. I will almost definitely need some of these answers for the log going up the weekend of May 15, so act quickly! Late submissions will not be considered for that log.

— UPDATES Don't forget to report updates as they come up! Changes to locations (like toppling a few bookshelves in the library), big plots you have coming up that will affect the game (parties, major property destruction, etc), or exciting discoveries that may tie into the game's mythology (even the things provided by the mod) are very helpful to have in one place so relevant page updates can be made.

— MOD STATUS The usual reminder that it's just Amy steering this ship, so things will are going to be pretty slow for a while. Apologies in advance, and please don't feel shy about pestering me if you're stuck waiting for something.

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Comments

[descendent]

Elena's done something similar a few weeks ago. Created a grave and marked it when there's no one beneath it to visit. She comes to the cemetery when Mathias isn't trying to mess with them. It's not the same as the cemetery in Mystic Falls—this one is empty, too empty of the people Elena knows—but the routine and the idea of being around those who haven't been truly forgotten brings her some semblance of comfort.

When she spies someone she recognises from the town hall and various quick sightings around town, she twists on her foot, ready to leave her be. People don't come to the cemetery to speak to the living. They always come for the dead.

But being in this town… Elena's propelled forward by the thought that perhaps this girl needs someone living to talk to. (And if she doesn't, a simple check up on a stranger never hurt anyone.)

Brushing her hair behind her ear, she stands to Ellie's side, not wanting to come up behind her and spook her.

"If she would say it does, I agree with her," she says, offering a small smile.

[enduresurvive]

Ellie probably wouldn't agree that she needs someone to talk to, but that's just grief and anger making her think that way. It's hard to get past any of those things in her head. So she won't go seeking anyone out now. But this is a public place, and she's pretty obvious sitting here.

She hears the footsteps but doesn't bother looking up until Elena speaks. Ellie doesn't immediately recognise Elena's voice, so she's curious who the fuck would even bother. That's not a charitable thought, but grief is a messy thing.

"She would definitely agree," she says after a moment. "Probably most people would. Mathias sucks ass anyway."

[descendent]

"It does."

Possibly the understatement of the year, but acknowledging that Mathias sucks seems to be the common thread between everyone. She's still a stranger to some of the people here, but she knows that they're all linked together by being here. She wishes she wasn't now linked to this young woman via loss.

"And it sucks a lot for taking her away from you," she says, letting out a breath that brings her shoulders down. "I think it sucks a lot of ass for that."

[enduresurvive]

Ellie rests her head on her knees and stares at the makeshift grave. It's not even a grave, just...a marker. Something that told anyone else that Claire was here, alive and bright and beautiful. She still can't cry about it, which isn't fair, but she cried all the tears she had inside her before she ever got to Mathias, or so it seems.

"I thought she'd be back, you know? People...come back here. Like back home people just fucking died and that was it, but somehow this place is different. I guess just so it can be even more bullshit when someone's time runs out for good."

[descendent]

"It's not fair," she says, shaking her head. Elena doesn't invite herself to sit, merely standing and hoping she doesn't appear like an overwhelming shadow. She can't help but feel for her; Elena had once felt that hopeless—and still does, if she's honest with herself. Death is one thing that she finds there's no rulebook on, and it's not easy to get used to.

She sighs softly. "It's definitely not fair that some people can die and come back, and others can't. And you're allowed to be mad at them and even mad at her."

Just in case she didn't think she could be.

[enduresurvive]

Ellie has been surrounded by death so much recently, even before coming to this shitty town, but she's never become numb to it. She wishes she could, that she could be like Joel and steel her way through it. But even the lives that she's taken, mercilessly and sometimes cruelly, weigh on her. She isn't sorry for what she's done; she can't afford to be. But as much as she's ended up like him, she isn't exactly like Joel. She can't get used to death, not at home, and not here.

She scoffs a little at Elena's words. She doesn't need permission, obviously, but...it's kind of nice to hear it. She hugs her knees a little tighter.

"I am," she says, after a long moment of silence. "I am, you know? Fucking pissed. At this town, at the people who get to live. At Claire for...fuck, for not coming back, for being careless enough to die in the first place." Ellie herself hasn't died here, hasn't experienced whatever that's like. She thinks of Raylan, dying and then somehow dying in some otherworld version of this place. She thinks of Dean, who didn't wake up, and how Claire had been mad about that.

"We're all just counting down the fucking days, I guess," she says. She isn't at all resigned to die here, but it sure as hell seems like they all will in the end.